26 May 2009

iris. that's me.

one of the benefits of living with an herbalist is that you learn a lot of interesting things. for example, i am an iris. which is nice, since i have always liked irises, particularly the wild ones that grow in the ditches along the roads near my parents' old house in northern wisconsin. in greek mythology, iris is the messanger, the connection between the gods and humanity, using the rainbow as her vocabulary (iris = rainbow in greek). sort of like an artist.
as plants, irises are the ones that grow wild in boggy, swampy, mucky areas. they send their rhizomes out under the earth, through the muck and, just when you think they are not going to come up, they shoot out through the muck and raise their flags as little bright signs of persistence and beauty. irises are fighters, they metabolize the muck and bloom in the midst of it.
the iris is a gorgeous flower, and i identify with her in so many ways, especially the more julia reads to me.

Link(images found at the lovely small stump + studio choo. they always have gorgeous photos of their arrangements.)

5 comments:

  1. How fun! I've identified with a totem animal for years, but never a flower. Iris are gorgeous, just like you, doll.

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  2. i already think of you in terms of this purple/blue color, so this is so interesting. and special.

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  3. Ooooo, i so want to know what flower i am!!!
    What an awesome thing to learn about!
    Irises are a beauty of a flower, easily in my Top 5 favorites. I've always thought them to be a particularly FEMALE, kinda vulva-esque flower in their showy nature! Which, of course, is rad. They're like the wildflower version of the sexy-ass orchid that way, imo. ;)

    PS:
    Glad to here your move went well!

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  4. so funny. i like "the wildflower version of the sexy-ass orchid". i should probably clarify that (in my limited knowledge), in herbal medicine, i am not sure that everyone is assigned a flower necessarily--but it is likely that people probably identify with specific traits of different plants. my roommate has used the iris flower essence to treat some things that i have going on as a result of hypothyroidism, which affects my mental and creative state. i'm going to stop there. it's very complex and i don't really know that much about it. but i think it's interesting. for example, according to dakota medicine, people exhibit similar traits as animals (kind of like you mentioned about the totem animal, sal), and identifying the animal that someone is helps the herbalist know better how to treat the person.
    okay, stopping for reals now.

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  5. I don't know much of the medicinal aspects of flowers/herbs, but Georgia O'Keefe of New Mexico had some amazing work with color and the iris.

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